


Partners of the Light and the Dark

by Shadow_Ember



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Character Study, Force Ghost Qui-Gon Jinn, Force Ghosts, Qui-Gon is a wise man, Qui-Gon's POV, a study in the workings of the force, with too much time on his hands
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-03-17
Packaged: 2018-05-27 04:36:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6269893
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadow_Ember/pseuds/Shadow_Ember
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Qui-Gon has waited and watched as the galaxy fell, its undoing wrought by the boy he believed would save it. Years later, a new period of turmoil arises, caused by the hands of General Hux and Kylo Ren of the First Order. They bear an uncanny resemblance to his friends of old, and the Force has a funny way of weaving fate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Partners of the Light and the Dark

      Qui-Gon Jinn had always sought to understand the Force fully. His pursuits were ambitious and difficult; he sought to truly understand the mysticism and workings of the Force in deeper ways than others had before. As a skilled Jedi Knight, Qui-Gon believed he may have seen as much of the Force as any mere mortal could understand, save for Master Yoda. However, when the cool hands of death gripped him, and the broken face of his padawan faded into darkness, Qui-Gon drifted into a strange world. The Force took him into its embrace smoothly, quietly, as if he were floating down a stream. The darkness remained, and yet, it did not appear to be true darkness. It hummed around him with whispers and caresses and songs, emitting a calming light that had no brightness-yet, he could feel its cool rays upon his skin. 

      He came under the sensation of his body melting away. Panic flared up in his veins, sending alarm bells through his nervous system, until the current that surrounded him changed imperceptibly soft, as though fine silk appeared out of nowhere and swaddled him like a child. The Force eased him, and he relaxed into its grip, letting the last of his physical ties join the darkness around him. The world bloomed and Qui-Gon gasped, surrounded by light and color and truth and peace. His eyes burned under the Force, and he could not bear to look directly at the miasma around him yet he could not look away. His head swam pleasantly, and he accepted it, accepted this wonderful and terrible feeling. Peace surged through him and he called upon the Force, letting it flow through himself, stronger and more persistent than ever before. The wild colors dulled around him and slowly he opened his eyes to see the world as he had left it: broken, dismal. His heart yearned for Obi Wan, bent over his own body, but the Force enveloped him, whispering that this was the way things were meant to happen. Qui-Gon felt his emotions drain away, and he mused silently to himself. A part of him longed to appear to his old padawan, now knighted and Master to young Anakin Skywalker, but he knew, underneath his weak wish, that it would be destructive. Already, he could sense the confusion and sadness swirling within Obi Wan, threatening to send him down a darker path if he lost but an ounce of self-control. It would be a difficult time for the both of them, and Qui-Gon's place was far removed from them. With the Force to ease the loneliness of his ghostly existence, Qui-Gon waited and watched the galaxy for years to come. 

     The two men standing side by side on the _Finalizer_ , partners brought together not out of brotherhood but by a common cause, stood like impressive stone gargoyles chipped by the Force itself and placed for the world to see. They were a deadly and terrifying duo; Qui-Gon thought they may even rival the great sith lords and their apprentices of the past. The shorter one, General Hux of the First Order, struck fear into the hearts of his enemies. At first glance, he appeared unassuming, but Qui-Gon could see how the Force swirled around his thin shoulders and hips menacingly. The man was not force-sensitive, but he may as well have been. Cold calculation, cunning logic, and devastating harshness characterized the sharp man, and indeed the warmest thing about him -that Qui-Gon noticed - was his vibrant hair, an orange shade that burned like the fires of Mustafar. General Hux presented an intriguing and complex enigma to Qui-Gon. The clinical exterior was a carefully controlled front, built up from years of experience, that hid a layer of anger and hatred boiling under his skin. The man's self-control was extraordinary, surpassing that of the most skilled Jedi, and Qui-Gon commended him silently.

     The other man stood out in stark contrast to his companion, a dark horse among the First Order. If the Force centered around General Hux's spirit, it churned like a vortex around Kylo Ren. Anger, bitterness, confusion, and sadness were all things Qui-Gon could sense within the man's mind. Kylo was pale white shrouded by black clothes, black hair, and a black heart. His very soul fought against himself, a turmoil more painful than most men can bear. The fact that Anakin Skywalker's blood flowed through him was obvious and saddening. The poor man seemed to have been cursed with the same sickness, to struggle with both sides of the Force. Even as Qui-Gon watched, he could feel the Force around him jerk and shudder as though it were fighting itself too. 

     Seeing them stand stark and tall, commanding the obedient stormtroopers on deck, Qui-Gon reeled in the familiarity of it all. If the tall man had been a little more controlled, a bit more sure of himself, and the other man's hair a shade closer to that of a setting Tatooine sun, with a kinder smile, he could easily mistake them for his old friends. The legendary Master Obi Wan Kenobi and Chosen One Anakin Skywalker fighting side by side compelled the same awe as these two men decades later. Each a perfect and balanced duo, possessing one man of logic and control, the other of power and emotion.

     Qui-Gon wondered it fitting, or ironic, that Kylo Ren had fallen to the dark side much like his predecessor Anakin. They both possessed the struggle and call to the light. Good men at heart, each lost in their own way. Within Kylo's quarters, a morbid shrine to his grandfather marked both of their faults: the capability to feel emotions too strongly. Kylo visited the shrine daily, in almost ritualistic fashion, begging his grandfather to show him the power of the dark side. Qui-Gon remembered, all those years ago on Tatooine, a small, remarkable boy who believed, "The biggest problem in the galaxy is that no one helps each other". This, his own flesh and blood kneeling at an altar to his evil, is not what Anakin would have wanted. 

      And the others, Qui-Gon was amused by their similarity. If the Force ever permitted a meeting between them, he suspected it would be a greater battle than any in the galaxy's history. Even the great clash of wills on Mustafar between Obi Wan and Darth Vader would pale in comparison. Then, the opponents had been balanced opposites, with equal power seeking to find an advantage over the other. However, the two light haired companions of the Skywalker bloodline were made of the same fiber. Equal power, equal skill and resolve would force them to a standstill. The world would hold its breath in their wake. Completely from opposite sides, it was hard to believe that they could be so similar. Qui-Gon entertained the idea that it was their upbringing. Both were born into a side, raised into it, came to believe it wholeheartedly. Resolve such as that is unstoppable. 

     If fate functioned similarly throughout time, this new duo absorbed in the dark awaited a dismal end. Even in the time of the Light, their predecessors fell, and the world tore itself apart at their goodbye. However, Qui-Gon saw the Force moving strangely around them. It glowed from within, stronger than he had seen it in many years. It exuded a hope that fascinated Qui-Gon. Perhaps, the two partnerships had opposite destinies; one to succumb to the dark side, the other to free its stranglehold on the world. In many ways Kylo was different from Anakin, but Qui-Gon had the same feeling of hope when he looked upon him as when he saw the young slave boy at the start of it all. The Force was strong in him, much like his grandfather, and the Force permitted him a few glimpses of the near future: filled with hope and laughter and Ben and understanding. Peace unlike any other gripped Qui-Gon at the thought, to know that he had not been mistaken in his belief in Anakin, and that in the many ways he destroyed the world, he would save it as well. The Force was silent, but it agreed with him. It joined him in his eternal watch, waiting expectantly for the chaos of a changing world undergoing its salvation.

**Author's Note:**

> I've never written from Qui-Gon's pov before, but I really wanted to examine the similarities between Obi Wan/Anakin's partnership and Hux/Kylo's partnership. I also wanted to try to explore the workings of the Force, so it ended up a lot more flowery than I expected. I hope you liked it! I'm off to obsess over these characters some more!


End file.
